Electronic components generate heat which must be dissipated; otherwise the components operate at too high a temperature, which can lead to premature failure and diminished long-term reliability. Thermal management issues are becoming increasingly important as the higher capacity and functionality of each new generation of communications products often translates directly into increased device power and the associated heat dissipation challenges.
Often in electronics cooling applications, air is used as the primary medium for the cooling of heat-dissipating components. In a typical configuration, a heat sink is attached to the heat generating component and fans supply a flow of air past the heat sink to provide cooling.
Some problems with this approach include: the need for increasingly larger heat sinks to cool the higher heat densities in current and next-generation equipment; limitations on further improving existing air-cooled heat sink performance; and acoustic noise limits, fan reliability considerations and fan power requirements associated with increasing the volume of air flow through the heat sink.